Wings - NejiTen

Neji wasn’t sure why he was standing on the corner of the city street at 11 p.m. waiting for a car that might not even come.

“Oh yeah, now I remember… a girl said seven simple words to me…”

“Care to do a girl a favor?”   Brown eyes snapped Neji out of his job-induced daze, looking over the counter at the men’s clothing store that was never seemed to have customers at this late hour.  The girl was pretty enough, but something about her was off.  Her clothes did little to hide the fact that she was fit, there was a spring to her step like a gymnast and she moved like a cat; but that suit jacket did not hide her muscles it was most likely hiding something else.

“I don’t close shop for another hour, but…”

Cutting him off, she nodded and neatly remarked, “Perfect, that’s just enough time to size you up?”

His confusion, unable to match her pace, only allowed him to stammer, “Who are you?”

“Oh I’m Tenten, and you are… Neji!  A pleasure to meet you.”  Sometimes Neji wished that employees didn’t have to wear nametags.

“If you’re not buying anything I must ask you to leave.”  Neji decided the odd girl had to go, but part of him doubted if he would be successful.

“No, no, no you can’t do that.”  She smirked as she looked at him over her shoulder, “After all I’m your customer, and I have things to buy tonight.”

“Oh are you… my apologies.”  Neji felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him when he realized his misunderstanding.  Perhaps she wanted his help in making a purchase for someone.

“Apology accepted.”  Her smile was warm, but oddly devious.  Going over to a rack of suit jackets, she selected a brown pinstripe and tossed it at Neji, “There, try that one on.”

The creeping suspicion that something was wrong about this girl quickly sprang back to Neji.  “Why do you want me to try it on?”

“Because I’m buying you a suit, do I have to spell everything out?”  Her laugh was like something out of a comic book and Neji couldn’t help but feel that he had fallen even further behind her in this conversation, any more missteps and she would likely lap him.

Time to slow things down, he decided.  “Why are you buying me a suit?  I assume that the favor you mentioned is not just you randomly deciding to dress up the clerk of a clothing store.”

“Isn’t it odd that with conversations they say you have to ‘catch up’ when you’re behind, but you do that by ‘slowing down’ in order to ‘get up to speed’ with everything?  Language is funny.”  She stuck out her tongue and held up tan shirts to size up to Neji’s chest.

The lack of laughter or other expression from Neji gave her a moment to roll her eyes and the corners of her mouth curled in annoyance.

“Fine, but you’re no fun.”  Handing him a folding leather case, she reached into her jacket and pulled out a black handgun and spun in a pose, “I’m a secret agent.”  Sure enough there was nothing in the wallet that confirmed her status as any sort of government agent; an ID actually placed her as a student at the local college.

Exhaling, Neji put his hand to his face and inquired, “Okay ‘Agent’ Tenten, what’s the favor?”  Pausing for a moment, Neji wondered about the situation.  A girl in a suit walked into his shop, saying she wanted to buy him a suit as well.  This could just be an odd college prank, but what else could a girl need with a well dressed man at this time of night?

“I’ll be honest, I need an unknown.  You’re not a face I’ve ever seen around before in any of the circles I run in, trust me I’d remember a face as handsome as yours.  I have to pull off a sting tonight, but I need someone from outside, someone mysterious and unfamiliar.  But I need you well dressed and ready to go in about an hour.”

Another thought occurred to him, that this was a strange sort of reality television game show he might be on, but the lack of cameras quieted that idea.  The whole situation was just too odd, but before he could say so Tenten was taking off his shirt to look at the sizing to find a shirt to match.  The girl moved quick and had hands faster than a Benihana chef.  In no time she had managed to find a suitable jacket and shirt, but Neji stopped her at the pants.

“How about this?  I’ll buy the shirt and jacket, and in return you tell me your pants size?”

There were rules in the employee’s manual about customers buying something for employees, but there was nothing about how to deal with said customers when they were being especially insistent.  One of these days society would have to revisit the notion of “the customer is always right”.

Despite his resistance, he ultimately found himself with two bags containing a change of clothes lying on his counter; an excellent dark brown suit with Navajo white shirt and a tan paisley tie.  She had even bought the gold cufflinks, no detail spared.

“A fine suit you’ve bought me, but I’m afraid I don’t have the shoes to match?”

“Shoe size?”  She asked, smiling sweetly.

“Eleven wide, why?”

Pulling out her cell phone, she called a number on speed dial and said, “Lee, yeah I’ve got the suit.  Meet me at the store with shoes, brown, size eleven wide.”

“Okay I’ve got to ask.  What’s this all about?”  Neji demanded.

“Well I need a date for tonight and I decided to pick you.”

“Just like that?  You buy me a suit, without knowing anything about me, and ask me out?”

“I wouldn’t say I don’t know anything.”  She smiled like a playful child.  “I now know your measurements after all, though truth be told I had you sized up long before tonight.  I’ve seen you around town, that aloof and distant stare is hard to miss.  And yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the same place more than twice, with the exception of this store anyways.”

“And what about you?  What am I supposed to make of you?  Odd girl comes into my shop and makes decisions for me.  Perhaps I had some other plans for tonight.”

A man with a bowl cut and thick eyebrows walked into the store carrying a bag from the nearby shoe store and wearing a suit jacket nearly identical to Tenten’s.

“Tell you what.  Let’s make a bet.  If I’m wrong, you just won a suit and shoes and you’ll never see me again.  However,” she pulled a card from her pocket and wrote on the back, “if my feeling about you is right, I’ll pick you up on the corner of these streets at 11 o’clock tonight.  Keep your eye out for the green Challenger.”  She handed him the card, smiled and left without another word.

For the first time Neji took a good, long look around the store.  With her gone it was quiet and empty again.  In just ten minutes she had run the shop as thought she was the owner, and the walls seemed to notice her absence.  It was like a tropic bird had flown into a dove’s cage asking it out for a flight.  Laughing, Neji looked at the brown suit laying on the counter.

“Does this make you my pair of wings?”  He mockingly asked the suit.  The fabric in his hands was smooth, it felt good.  There was an air of danger and mystery about the girl.  “Isn’t that the risk all birds face when they fly?”  The question did not seem like it came from him, yet the words passed his lips so naturally.

Nodding he closed early, put on the suit and found himself running in his new shoes to get to the place on the card.  He stood for half and hour, asking himself the same question over and over, “Why am I here?”  Yet no hesitation could get his feet to move from that spot.  What finally did get him to move was the sight of a green Challenger rolling up to the curve, driven by the curious girl with brown hair.  The doors unlocked and she nodded for him to get in.

For some odd reason, reaching for the door handle made him feel more like a bird stretching its wings for the first time.